Adventures In Jobseeking

Triple bad blogger update - on tenterhooks

2010-09-17T16:07:00.001Z

Apparently you're meant to update your blog every week if you want people to read it. Woops.
However I reckon now is a good time to update because I've got some free time...I'll come to that in a bit :)

Since the last update, I've done two sets of exams and a research project. There were four exams in January, Solar I, Wind I, Water and Biomass I. And the results for the nightmare that was Sustainable Energy Systems. The exam I was worried about most and spent most time on was Solar, because it had some horrible maths in it (mathematical proofs - ugh). Wind turned out to be the most difficult in the end.
Then came semester 2 in very quick succession - I think I had four days of freedom before we started again. We had Integration, which was about integrating renewables into the national grid - all Electrical Engineering and very difficult for anyone who didn't already know all about it. Then Biomass II and Solar II. I changed to Solar from Wind at the last minute and was glad because I really enjoyed it.

An added bit of stress in the January exam period was that we had to choose our projects, which we could pick from a list or propose our own for a 'private deal'. Someone told me about three weeks before the end of the winter term that your enjoyment of the course was pretty much made on whether you enjoyed your project, so it seemed pretty important. While I was revising for Biomass and googling uses for glycerol I came across an article about anaerobically co-digesting glycerol with pig waste, which inspired me (!) and I ended up proposing a project called 'Co-digesting Glycerol and Municipal Solid Waste', which was accepted and supervised by Prof. Andrew Wheatley, who I then discovered was one of the leading lights of anaerobic digestion (he's cited in lots of references). The project was absolutely brilliant, quite a lot of hard work and I needed to go into the lab every day, including weekends, but some interesting results and very satisfying. Somehow my anaerobic digesters became known as my 'poo babies' and were duly named (Raspootin, Pooella de Ville, Poopert, Poodolph and Poocilla Queen of the Desert). Last week I handed in my dissertation and had to do a presentation on my project and findings, and now all I can do is wait. We haven't had our results for the second semester exams yet, so I really haven't got a clue how I've done. Apparently we're going to get the results 'after 21st September'. So definitely not yet, but not long now.

The reason I've got a bit of free time as opposed to infinite free time and a job search is because, almost incredibly, I've found a job! I wrote to the guy that showed us round the Anaerobic Digestion plant at Marmite in November, and he came and met me in Loughborough. Then I went for an interview with his boss, the plant manager, and they've taken me on. I'm going to work in the Safety and Environment Department as an Environmental Technologist. I'm not yet entirely sure what my responsibilities will be but I imagine that there will be a certain amount of negotiation or feeling the way seeing as the job didn't exist before I got to them. Anyway I'm very chuffed to have got the job. I've spoken to my boss and he sounds really keen about what I'm doing and full of ideas about what he wants to achieve. I start on 27th September, in 10 days. Exciting!!

I'll be working in Burton so I've moved into a rented house in Burton. I've spent the last week moving, sorting my house out and biking round Burton getting to know the place properly. I already love living there. Burton is full of activity and industry, the people are lovely and it's just the right size to get around. There are a lot of bridges so it's going to keep me fit if I'm biking everywhere. There's a newly refurbished leisure centre and library too. Yesterday I got a cooker delivered, which was dead cheap and fitted by a lovely and very efficient gas bloke who had it all sorted in a matter of minutes and even arrived early. I celebrated by inviting my mum round for dinner and made mushroom and walnut bolognese. Yum.

Credit card fraud, of a different kind

2009-12-09T11:57:00.006Z

This is nothing to do with my career shenanigans, but I'm cross and I need a rant. I've just booked a ticket, single from Burton on Trent to Basingstoke, 18th Dec. It's 3 bleeding changes and costs £21.45, and that's with a railcard. I don't think that's too expensive, and I like getting trains so I'm not too fussed about the journey. However what I DO object to is all the random fees that the trainline adds at the last minute.

You've gone through the hassle of finding the right train, weighing up whether you can make the connections, if there's any better way to do it etc etc, you finally get to the paying stage and you find that the TrainLine has added a £1 booking fee. FOR WHAT????

Then you choose your payment method. You can either pay with a debit card (risky) or pay with a credit card...for which there is a £3.50 charge. FOR WHAT????

I was talking with a friend the other day about crime, and he said something about the difference between crimes that rich people make and the crimes that poor people make. It strikes me that these stealth charges are a prime example of this. We just accept them because there's no other option, and we don't complain because it's a clever steady drip-drip-drip of taking our money and the more it happens the more we become numb to it. In the meantime the credit cards and banks are making loads of money and giving themselves £1 million bonuses. What can we do about this ridiculously unfair system? Nothing.

Two weeks to go

2009-11-27T15:59:00.006Z

I'm cooking stew, so I thought I'd do an update while I was waiting for it to cook. The carrots are just about there but the swede is still pretty solid.

There are two weeks until the end of term. It's got cold, and we've finished 4 out of 5 of this semester's modules:
- Sustainable Energy Systems
- Solar 1
- Wind 1
- Biomass 1
The next module is Water, and then Christmas! And my sister's wedding, which I'm sure will be fun too :) I've been existing without cake (and other Bad Stuff, but it's the lack of cake I feel most) over the last couple of weeks so I can fit into my dress which at the moment is on the snug side. Not sure if I've lost weight yet, and I won't know until I go home in a couple of weeks and try it on. The anticipation is unbearable.

Looking forward to the end of term as the two-week cycles of modules are quite stressful. However in a way I'm not looking forward to it because then it's only a short spell away from exams, which I hate. Over the last couple of weeks, when I should have been concentrating on Biomass, I've mostly been trying to get my head around aerodynamics, so I don't panic when I start to revise it. I think I've managed it now, just about.

We went for another field trip on Tuesday, to somewhere very exotic...Burton on Trent! We visited the anaerobic digestion plant in the Marmite factory. It was actually really interesting, and also pretty cool to see the insides of a factory I've been past hundreds of times. Here's a picture of their explanatory text in case you want to know more:

Having thoughts about my project, which I think we have to have worked out just after Christmas. I think I'll probably end up doing something about Biomass, unless I get inspired by the Water module. I like anaerobic digestion, and all the human factors involved as well - like economics and process waste. If I make up a really interesting project, the last part of this course could be really good fun, and maybe even produce something useful.

In other news, I'm still doing the clarinet lessons, and getting on really well with it. Also still singing, and our concert is a week on Monday. Yikes!

And another bit of news...I'm going down to London next week to demonstrate at the Wave. My first march. It's a march to support the Copenhagen Summit, which is happening from 7th-11th of December and will set the goals for CO2 emissions reductions until 2012. If the reductions goal isn't high enough, then it will be pretty bad for, well, the world. I wasn't sure about going but then I saw The Age of Stupid yesterday and decided it was Important. I'm a bit nervous about it and hope that the police don't start getting handy with their superior weaponry and combat skills.

Childish but funny

2009-11-05T18:58:00.003Z

As I have discovered how to post pictures, I thought I would add this pic of my breakfast which amused me greatly the other day:

It's a pair of pants! :)

Field trip

2009-11-05T18:25:00.008Z

We had a field trip last week, to the house of a local eccentric entrepreneur called Tony Marmont who lives just outside Loughborough. He’s what my friend Dave would call a ‘survivalist nutcase’ as he’s got a totally off-grid power system, but makes it reasonable by having constructed it a very long time ago and explaining that he wanted to see if it was possible. Tony is 70+ and still full of ideas and very active in the world of renewables.

The system consists of:
- two boreholes that supply water
- a big lake with two little water turbines
- a huuuuuuuge hydrogen generation and storage unit (this is a way of storing power, like batteries, but needs very expensive kit to use)
- two 2-blade wind turbines
- three 20-tube solar water heating arrays
- a massive bank of solar power modules
- a water source heat pump

Solar power

Electric car

Electric car 'petrol cap'

Tracking solar power

All this runs a house for two people, a farm and some offices. It’s a bit overkill :) However, it was great to see because it’s basically what everyone on my course would love to do. As a piece de resistance, at the end of the visit we were greeted by the man himself who presented his idea for replacing aviation fuel to us (combining hydrogen and carbon dioxide to make hydrocarbons) and as a special treat showed us his helicopter. Yes, helicopter.

Tony's helicopter

Let the music take you…high above the hillside…and away from all this ridiculously hard maths

2009-10-27T23:28:00.010Z

I had another choir practice yesterday and enjoyed it so much that I came back home completely hyper. I stayed in for half an hour, had a cup of tea to calm down and then went for a walk around the campus.

It was about 10 o’clock when I was out and still really warm. It’s been so warm these last few weeks, and I’ve been amazed by all the foreign students that live in my building complaining about how cold it is. I’m wondering if living in Wales has made me a bit more hardy. Especially after last winter, which Rhian and I spent huddled in front of our gas heater in the lounge. People actually came round to our house solely to warm themselves up, because it was warmer than their house. At the same time I got the cold from hell which came with an incredibly irritating and painful cough that lasted for three weeks. Cough cough cough. Cough cough cough. Cough cough cough. COUGH COUGH COUGH. And so on.

ANYWAY…at ten o’clock there’s still a lot going on at Loughborough University. Lots of getting ready to go out was happening and it was a really nice atmosphere walking through the student village, where all the halls are. I stopped and sat down next to one of the many sports pitches on campus, on which three teams were practising – girls’ football, men’s lacrosse and girls’ lacrosse. It was all pretty confusing, probably because they weren’t playing proper games. They only stopped playing at 10.30, I was amazed that they were out so late.

Anyway…the choir practice was great. Here’s a rundown of what we're doing, and if you want to hear us there’s a concert in Loughborough on 7th December:
• Handel’s Messiah: And the Glory of the Lord, And He Shall Purify, Glory to God, His Yoke is Easy, and His Burthen is Light, Hallelujah
• O Magnum Mysterium
• Go, Tell It On the Mountain
• Riu, Riu, Chiu
• Here is the Little Door
• Gaudete
• Lullay my Liking
They’re all very nice apart from Go Tell It On The Mountain which is terrible, mostly because there’s a horribly embarrassing attempt to make it ‘cool’ at the end where the sopranos tell everyone to spread the Word on Facebook... *shudder*. O Magnum Mysterium is the best of all of them followed closely by Lullay my Liking. All the tunes that aren’t Handel’s Messiah are old Christmas songs, and they’re very lovely even if they look funny and unfamiliar :)

I’m having a clarinet lesson tomorrow, and going to a Church Orchestra practice on Sunday (it’s a short but boring story!). I think all the music playing is a bit of a reaction to the incredibly hard work I’ve been doing, and needing to get out of the house. And possibly also because there’s so much sport going on that I can’t take part in (I have back problems because of a slipped disc – it’s not a day-to-day problem but it means I can’t do anything to aggravate it like running). So music it is!

This week’s module is Solar 1, and I’m in the middle of writing up a very exciting lab report studying how temperature and irradiance (amount of sunlight) affect photovoltaic cells. Definitely not as bad as the Sustainability module, but still pretty difficult, and lots of very hard maths! We’re going on a field trip tomorrow, to a PV lab and then to a PV installation.

I went to a careers fair in Liverpool last week, which was basically as I was expecting (a big corporate affair, not really the sort of thing I’m interested in at the moment) but I did manage to pick up a bit of information that was useful. I also managed to pick up loads of free sweets and even scored some cake at Dundee Renewables :) I’m starting to get an idea of what I want to do after…something involving people I think. That’s as far as I’ve got at the moment! Well it's a start.

Helen is hardly working

2009-10-16T18:38:00.002Z

I’ve just finished a very stressful project so I’m very happy, and I thought I’d do an update before heading off to the pub. I’m celebrating by eating cake and drinking coffee whilst sitting listening to Super Furry Animals (the right kind of multitasking!).

The first module in my course was all about sustainability, which is about ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. I was glad it was first because it’s something I’m really into, and it sounds like a good way to start the course…then I realised how the course was going to be marked…100% group coursework, 8000 words, in a week and a half. Urrrrrggggh. Blimey I’ve had the same thought many times over the last couple of weeks, which is that if you gauged my stress levels with an emergency light on top of my head (signalling ‘danger’) it would have been going off constantly for 10 days. I had a lovely team but we had some very unfortunate miscommunications at the start (a poor Spanish guy called David has had a baptism of fire into the English language, I don’t think he’d be out of his depth at a football match with the expletives that I’ve uttered over the last few days, sorry David). Couple the miscommunications with reams and reams of information to gather, assimilate and make sense out of and you’re starting to get the picture. I’ve been working for all the 16 hours of the day several times, was in the library until half 11 last night and I didn’t spend one minute staring at the ceiling feeling bored. On the up side:
- I can write references in my sleep
- I’ve learnt quite a lot about the Greek language and
- I’ve learnt that when an Indian person shakes their head they actually mean yes. Oh how we laughed about that one.
- I’ve probably lost a couple of pounds through stress. Although I’ve undoubtedly put that on again through cake.
We finally handed our coursework in at 4.20pm this afternoon, having had a last minute panic because our PDF file was too big to upload (honestly, they could have told us there was a 2MB limit at the start). Luckily our Nigerian group member kept his head and while the rest of the group was running round frantically trying to reduce the file size he calmly downloaded a file compressor, compressed the file and handed it to me, at which point I uploaded it and sat back. We’re all still friends amazingly. And apparently we weren’t the last people to hand our work in :)

Time for the pub I think!

Lordy

2009-10-13T23:00:00.000Z

This project is difficult.

End of week one

2009-10-01T22:46:00.002Z

It’s been a very easy week but I don’t expect it to stay that way for long, so I’m enjoying it while I can. This week has been mostly about remembering names and getting to know people, and a few lectures about things like how to find information, what research the department does, how to use the careers service, and what the renewable energy sector looks like at the moment.

My course has about 50 people doing it, and we sit in the same room for all our lectures. The room is short and wide, and has two projectors in it, which is good for being able to see but must be a bit disorientating for the lecturers. I’ve been sitting at the back (like the ‘trouble’ element of the class that I am) and have noticed that there is a microphone above where the lecturer stands and a camera pointed there too. This is presumably a feed for the Distance Learning students, so have been making a mental note to remember this and not stand in front of the camera and scratch my bum or something. Being a lady I’m sure I won’t do that anyway.

I went to the first choir night on Monday and got hopelessly lost in Handel’s Messiah. I’m hoping I’ll start to get the tune after a few practices. It was really really busy, although thinking about it I think the choir at Leeds Uni was the same size. We sang some other tunes as well, can’t remember the names of any of them now. Anyway we’re doing a Christmas concert which I imagine I’ll drag my folks to some time in December. If I manage to learn the tune that is.

Loughborough Uni reminds me a bit of Butlins (I went there once for a festival, so it wasn’t the proper Butlins experience but you got the gist of the place). All the halls are on site and have nice little courtyards between them. It’s full of youngsters running round being sporty and they get ushered around in packs by other youngsters, who are their hall committee presumably. Luckily they know better than to try and involve the postgrads in any of their foam party/coloured tshirts/hanging round in packs nonsense as we are much too mature and refined for that kind of thing ahem ahem.

A stoodent again

2009-09-26T18:49:00.000Z

It feels like I've been waiting forever but I'm finally here at Loughborough - back to the student life again! I'm even living in Halls but this time around it's a beautiful and very plush Postgrads-only hall. I've got my own bathroom so it sort of feels like I'm living in a hotel. For some unknown reason Loughborough Uni have decreed that we had to get here on Thursday, although I haven't got anything that I need to do until Monday. So I've been generally mooching around and discovering my new surroundings. So far I have unearthed:
- the Uni pool
- Loughborough's Saturday market in town
- a bike shop
- Sainsbury's
- the town library
So not doing too badly. Have scoped out the choir situation - there is one that practices on Monday evenings, starting next Monday, so I'm going to go to that. According to the website, 'New members are welcome at any time - there are no auditions, no previous experience is needed, and there is no requirement to be able to read music'. In other words, 'We're a bit shit'. But then I can't really read music, so I'm a bit shit too, and it's clearly the kind of choir to which I should belong. I sort of wanted to join a wind band or something but I can't actually play
anything so I've had to knock that idea on the head. Choir it is!

I'm missing Mach quite a lot, all the familiar surroundings, and all the lovely people. I went into a health food shop today (a phrase you would *never* have heard me utter before I moved to Mach) and the smell made me so nostalgic for the Hippy Wonderland of Machynlleth that I almost burst into tears. Luckily the sight of muesli brought me round (which for some reason makes me angry. I think it's because it's so relentlessly tasteless. Don't get me started).

I had a lovely holiday in the south of France before I came here, a pilgrimage to see the Pont du Gard near Nimes. It was very impressive, and I had a great time practising my French and exercising my language brain. Also ate a lot of lovely food (sharp bread, smelly cheese, bloody steak) and managed to avoid stepping in a single dog poo for the whole trip despite there being plenty of opportunity for me to do so.

Off to the pub now with my new flatmates!

A night at the opera

2009-08-26T05:00:00.000Z

I went to a Cymanfa Ganu on Sunday, which is hymns in Welsh, sung by everyone. It was at the Tabernacle and part of the Machynlleth music festival, and because it was special they got a local Welsh male voice choir in to sing along. They were absolutely amazing so I decided I’d come back to hear the proper version, a full male voice choir concert, which was tonight.

The choir was from Anglesey so I don’t think it was the same one but they had a trick up their sleeves which was that they’d got in this fantastic tenor called Gwyn Hughes Jones with them who was absolutely superb, or iawn iawn iawn as the compere said. The first song he did nearly brought me to tears, it was so absolutely amazing, lots of soaring notes and a really long high one at the end. The choir did loads of lovely Welsh songs, none of which I can remember the name of obviously, apart from ‘O Cymru’ which is a song all about how wonderful Wales is.

I was stuck at the back craning round a head-mover in the first half (you know the type, he’s taller than you, he’s got a great big head and just as you’ve found a position from which you can see round him, he shifts to the other side). After a cup of tea and pink wafer (!) in the interval I returned to find my seat had been swiped by an old lady who said she had been sat at the front but it was too noisy J So without delay I took up her spot and spent the rest of the concert being blasted full on with tenor and male voice choir, fantastic.

The tenor did a trio of songs that he said were ‘a tenor’s staple’; these were Nessun Dorma, something else and ‘O Sole Mio’ (I think that might actually not be called that though). Unfortunately I am such a pleb that whenever I hear ‘Nessun Dorma’, I hear the beautiful tune and words but in my head I still hear the insistent cry of Robert Newman in the Mary Whitehouse Experience singing ‘and let go flat my fizzy drink! Fizzy drink!! Fi-zeeeeeeee DRINK!!!!’. The Mary Whitehouse Experience were a comedy program around at the time of the 1990 World Cup and did a parody version of Nessun Dorma complaining about irritating people that leave tops off things (toothpaste, fizzy drinks). I guarantee that anyone else who was between 12 and 21 at the time will have exactly the same problem. A similar problem also applies to ‘O Sole Mio’ but this time it’s a gondolier punting around Venice singing about Cornettos (triumphantly finishing ‘from WALLS ice cream!!’).

Despite my plebitude the evening was marvellous. I have decided I’m going to try and join a choir when I go to Loughborough.

Speaking of Loughborough, I phoned them up today to check my accommodation had gone through, and got some details about what I was meant to bring. I can’t wait to go now, it’s less than a month until I move, and only 2 ½ weeks till I go off on my trip to France. Woo hoo, something’s happening!

Footnote: England won the Ashes on Sunday, hooray! A victory that was fully deserved given that we played brilliantly in the last test, which is not at all like us when the chips are down. Flintoff did an inspired run-out of Ricky Ponting, which I watched on YouTube in the library today because our internet’s down at home. A dangerous thing to do if you’re going to whoop and holler at the end of the clip.

Double bad blogger update

2009-08-20T19:12:00.000Z

I'm resolving to write this blog a bit more because things are finally getting a bit more interesting. Since the last post I have:

Installed a lovely solar water heating system on Cottage 1 of the Site Community buildings at CAT (how come these buildings have such bland names? Get thinking, CAT community people!)
Had a midday naked swim in the reservoir at CAT, after a very hot installation day outside cottage 1 in May. I now consider myself a fully-fledged hippy, having also discovered a herbal tea that doesn't make me want to throw up and having uttered the immortal words 'it's a nice space' when describing the decor of a house or building
Sorted out the move to Loughborough
Spent another week at Glastonbury, and had a Moment of Great Importance watching Blur. That's what it felt like anyway, could have been the special 'cocktail' I was drinking, gin with white wine mixer. I've since realised that this is basically a Martini, we should call it a Blur Martini or something. It was horrible anyway so I doubt it'll go much further in its fame than me and Ellie (who I shared the Moment with).
Got older and had a very nice cocktail party to celebrate (I learned how to make Martinis and the rest of the evening is a bit hazy)
Worked on Reception at CAT. I have seen a lot of families and a very large range of human behaviour, ranging from puke-inducingly nice to tear-inducingly dispicable. I have learned how to make my voice heard over 15 people talking at once, control school children (get their teacher to do it), and how to win over the angry old couple who have had a shit journey to get there and are presenting us with an invalid 2-for-1 voucher (give them free tea tokens). Fun but tough, and exhausting.
Moved house and been introduced to the delights of sourdough bread which my lovely housemate Tom makes
Become obsessed with Manu Chao
Been rejected by the Leonardo Project, who didn't fancy my engineering and German skills. I was meant to be going June-September, but instead have earned some money, built on my promising people skills, had one last summer in Mach, and been to Glastonbury for free, not a bad compromise eh.
Made Bara Brith
Sold Sid the Mini, having spent a week at home with my Dad sorting out all his (Sid's) problems. I sold him to a girl in London who was just about to go to University...poor thing, she doesn't know what she's in for. Although she seemed to be loaded so will probably take better care of Sid than I did and will hopefully have fewer problems.

So, sorry I missed out on reporting all of that...I'll try and do better now my career is progressing a bit.

I've been musing a bit about what's going to happen after my course, which will take me until Sep'10 to finish. I'll have about 5 months before I have to get back to the Engineering degree with OU which I'm still planning to finish. I'd like to get a job as a Wind or Hydro specialist, or perhaps go into research...we'll see. Only three weeks till I finish my job, then about 2 1/2 weeks until I move to Loughborough. Hopefully going to France in the gap between. Meravillieux!! Or something like that :)

Bees

2009-03-31T19:48:00.000Z

I learned all about Bees And The Art Of Beekeeping yesterday. A friend at work keeps them, and gave me a short summary which was very good of him and is the way I absorb information best, in about 10 minute spurts. I am a child of the MTV generation after all. Bees have a weird and wonderful community, they're very neat and tidy and they make honey obviously which is lush. Apparently the bee population is declining because of bees being infected by mites that have been imported from other countries. I thought it was something to do with wireless, which is what I've been telling everyone for the last two years (based on a story in the paper about a guy who had a bee problem in his loft until he installed wireless and they all left). Sorry everyone.

Anyway, if you want to know how a bee hive works, read on...
It's a very organised community, all the bees have a job. They live for 6 weeks, but for the first two they can't fly, so they're nursery bees and they feed the larvae. When they can fly they make honeycombs from wax and honey from nectar, for all the other bees to eat. The Queen Bee makes and fertilises eggs. All the bees are female and work very hard, except the drones who are male and sit around all day eating honey. Every now and then they shag a Queen bee from another hive, after which they die.

So that's bees. It's one of those kind of things I've learned on a day to day basis being here, and it's easy to take for granted because it's all around you. I feel like I should have added details of more typically Mach things in this blog, , like clothes swaps and swapshop and freeganism and herb teas and people doing spells and 5 rhythms dancing and people making up their own songs and making jam and critical commute. I'll try to put a few more in. One thing is, I'm reading a great book at the moment called The Transistion Handbook. It's a bit heavy (which is why I don't pick it up much, har har) but worthy reading. Transistion towns paint a nice positive picture for the future. More about this later once I've read the book, if I remember :)

I've decided what I'm doing next year - I'm going to Loughborough to do the CREST course. Am really chuffed to be going back to the Midlands.

Bad blogger update

2009-02-11T16:46:00.000Z

Oops, a whole 2 seasons have passed and I haven't written anything! Well a fair amount's happened and my plans have changed a few times but I think I'm pretty settled on things now, so I thought it was about the right time to write it all down.

I left CAT in August and spent the next few weeks, well several weeks really, working hard, revising for my exam, and working through a book about how to study. By the time I got to the exam I was pretty fed up of engineering mechanics and really just wanted to empty my brain. The exam didn't go brilliantly - I missed an entire question, grrrr - but luckily I was well versed enough to get a Distinction which I feel smug about.

The day after my exam I started working for a small engineering company in Mach called Perpetual Energy, which was fun and eventful, and moved me on a few steps because of things that happened while I was there. Firstly, I had an interview with PE and was all excited about maybe becoming a consultant a LOT quicker than I'd been hoping. I didn't get the job (it turned out there wasn't a job anyway!) but it started me thinking again about my Plans. A couple of weeks after I started, a guy called Jon started working there too. He told me all about the MSc he was doing, the CREST course in Loughborough, and I started thinking about doing an MSc full-time, from Sep 2009.

The upshot is that now I've applied for the Loughborough course, and two more in Southampton and Edinburgh. I've been accepted at Loughborough and Southampton, and still waiting for a response from Edinburgh. I'm going back to Uni!

I'm also planning a bit of fun before the course starts, doing the Leonardo project, which is a work exchange program between Wales and other countries in Europe, and going to Berlin for three months. Hooray! I'm really looking forward to it, but I can't get too excited because I don't even know if I'm going, until May. I'm still getting excited about it secretly though :)

One year on

2008-08-25T06:45:00.000Z

It's a year since I left my job and leapt into the unknown. This time last year I was probably walking home from the pub contemplating what life had in store for me, or maybe just hiccuping and bumping into cars . I haven't done an update since April, mostly because I'm lazy but also because I've been dead busy. Since then I've been to three festivals (Sunrise, which was flooded, Glastonbury and Square festival), done four assignments, been on two CAT courses, had two visitors and had one massive party, last night. I've also moved house.

The house move happened two weeks ago. At the moment I'm staying with my friend John, in Machynlleth, which is really nice. His house is halfway up a hill and looks out over a lovely valley. He's got a beautiful red labrador puppy called Tosh and is a really nice bloke. I'm moving again in a week's time, which will hopefully be permanent. Or at least as permanent as things can be until I get a long-term job.

Friday was the last day for all the Long Term Volunteers at CAT. It was all a bit emotional. I actually cried when I did a speech which was a bit embarrassing but I guess I should have expected it because I've been pretty sad about going all week. I think I'll be back for various projects though, and in the meantime I've got some work in Membership - it's only data input but at least it's paid and will keep things turning over until I figure out what I'm doing. At the moment what I'm doing could be any one of the following:
- get casual work around here helping various local businesses do renewables installations. I've met loads of people that are involved in this since I've been here, and it would be great experience
- get a job with Dulas, which is the engineering spin-off from CAT, based in Machynlleth. I've sent them a speculative application, but was told that I should just keep an eye on their web site
- start my own business, helping people sort out their computers, similar to the sort of work I did with ITCH (IT Can Help) when I was in Cambridge
- get a job in renewables somewhere else, like Sheffield
I haven't decided yet which is best - hopefully that will become clear this week, now I've got a bit of time to think.

Talking of Sheffield, today was the end of an era:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7561179.stm
I went past those towers every time I went up to uni and back. I'm glad they're gone, even if they were iconic. They were pretty horrible.

We had a massive party last night, in fancy dress (Circus under the Sea - worked out brilliantly, lots of weird costumes), with bands, DJs, dancing and drinking. Ooh and the piece de resistance, some naked hippy sauna action at about 5am, at the CAT reservoir and homemade sauna. Yep, me included. Thankfully, it was pretty dark :)

I'm very tired now, and am planning to sleep for the next two days. I'm starting work in Membership on Wednesday.

In your face, Big Hill!

2008-04-22T05:33:00.000Z

I made it all the way up the hill in one go today. I am very chuffed and slightly drunk as I have been drinking champagne :)

I'm definitely going to do my assignment in a bit

2008-04-12T00:28:00.000Z

I'm having a day off work today to do my OU assignment which is sitting in front of me. It looks like a lot of maths which will probably be pretty difficult judging by what I've had to get through over the last few weeks, and I'm not looking forward to starting. So as always, I'm avoiding doing it by checking emails, playing spider solitaire and mucking about in general. This module has been all about how to build a structure without it falling down, in terms of the forces involved and the materials to use. It's rock hard and very dull and has been pretty arduous. If I get through the whole of this course without having a big hissy fit I'll be very surprised. If I get through the degree I'll be even more surprised - at the moment it seems like a bit of an unsurmountable object.

Things at CAT are great. I'm feeling settled in now and getting some really interesting things to do. I've got a big list of stuff that my boss would like me to help sort out or take control of while I'm here, and in amongst them is some stuff that it will be really useful to learn.

I am getting a bit information-fatigued however, and I'd quite like to do something that doesn't involve thinking too hard. Like walking up a mountain maybe.

There's a couple of things about this area that I really like:
- There are loads of sporty things to do, like walk up mountains (Cader Idris is a few miles away) and bike up hills (I got about half way up without stopping the other day...)
- It's full of hippies. The hippies probably wouldn't appreciate me saying that but it's true and it's really nice. Everyone's really relaxed and openminded and when someone has a party, everyone just assumes that they're invited :) And it means that there's loads going on as well like music and dancing and tai chi etc etc...there are lots of creative people about.

Best get on with that assignment then. Bah.

Oxford, commas, ha!

2008-04-02T00:05:00.000Z

I've just been writing some notes on OU work and made a list without adding an Oxford comma, which made me happy. Any writers out there will know what I'm on about but basically it's where you add a comma after the penultimate item in a list. As in, Today I talked to Frank, Betty, and Derek (the alternative being Today I talked to Frank, Betty and Derek). It's a tiny little gripe but I find it really annoying and we had to do it for tech writing as part of our Style Guide. No more!

I'm really tired today and quite dirty too because I spent all afternoon trying to pull a ruddy great cable through a 100 metre pipe, with several bends in it. I also had to pick up my car from the garage after the clutch went last Friday (in the rain). At least it's going now, but I could really have done without that. The advantage of course is that I got to bike to work in the lovely sunshine yesterday and have another crack at The Big Hill, which remains undefeated. I got a bit further up than last time though. I've got loads of OU work at the moment too - loads to catch up on and an assignment by 18th April. Too much!!

Update + The Big Hill

2008-03-25T06:03:00.000Z

I'm just back from going to Barton for Easter and fetching my beautiful blue bike so I thought I'd do a quick update. It's going to be quick firstly because the new series of Gavin and Stacey is on in half an hour, and secondly because I'm very tired having biked up the big hill from Machynlleth for the first time. By saying that, I don't mean I actually biked up. I biked to the bottom of the hill, and then wheeled my bike up, stopping several times to rest and pant on the way. I love my bike, but I'm sure that once I've done that a few times, I will hate it. I was so puffed out by the time I got home that I actually felt sick, and carried on feeling sick for about half an hour. If I ever do get up that hill without getting off the bike, I'm going to have a party.

The train journey from Mach to Burton on Trent is really nice - a pretty quick and also pictoresque 2 1/4 hours to Birmingham, then half an hour to Burton on Trent. The trains weren't at all full so there was no problem with my bike.

The first couple of weeks at CAT have been really good. I have:
- cleaned out a boiler with a wire brush
- assisted in making electrofusion-welded pipe joints
- lagged said pipe joints by cutting little bits out of some yellow foam and fitting it round the pipe
- been sent to First Aid with bright yellow stuff coming out of my nose due to dust from said yellow foam
- learned how to operate a mini-digger and used it to fill up a wood chip container
- done quite a bit of tidying round the site
- learned a lot about how boilers work
- been introduced to about 500 people, about 5 of whom I can remember their name
- started thinking about my project and learning about solar water heating
- performed a dance dressed in a bright yellow padded waterproof, white hardhat and blue overalls with 5 other engineers
- walked for an hour and a half to get to the pub

And in my spare time I've been studying and playing spider solitaire. A pretty full couple of weeks all in all!

The big move

2008-03-10T20:28:00.000Z

I've spent most of the last few weeks packing, chucking stuff out, selling things and giving things away. It all seems like a dream now however because I'm finally in Wales and did my first day today at the Centre for Alternative Technology, or CAT as it's known by locals.

It might sound silly but I do really feel like I'm in Wales. It's not just the roadsigns because you just don't really notice them after a while. It could just be because it's rained almost constantly since I crossed the border. I'm living in a house that is halfway up a hillside, on farmland about 4 miles out of Machynlleth. It's beautiful and windy and surrounded by fields. My landlady and her daughter both speak Welsh and have already taught me a few things. I don't think I'm going to have the time to try and learn much Welsh while I'm here, I do love the sound of it though.

My first day was pretty good. I learned how to operate the funicular railway, changed a strip light, and stoked a boiler. Expect more of this kind of talk in the future! :)

I won't go into it now because I'm not really over the trauma but I've had some really bad problems with Sidney over the last few weeks, which culminated in a distressed RAC call at 3pm on Friday (as in, the day before I was supposed to be driving from one side of the country to the other in it). He was a very very very nice man and managed to fix the car with impressive speed - I'm guessing he gets paid per job completed. One thing I learned from the experience is that having a crap car is a great way to meet men. Not only men, but manly, chivalrous men, that like to help a lady in distress. Just before the RAC call, Sidney stalled on the Coldham's Lane roundabout, on the inside lane, and I was pushed to safety by two lovely and pretty foxy men who were only too happy to help me. Then whilst trying to work out the problem (turned out the petrol gauge was wrong, and I had no petrol. I filled him up and drove off whooping and cheering but then slowed to a halt again, which was when I called the RAC. I managed to not burst into tears this time though) and was helped by one of the foxiest men I have ever seen who had apparently had a mini a few years before. The RAC man wasn't bad either.

Lucy in the car, with meowing

2008-02-24T15:12:00.000Z

I drove my cat Lucy up to her new home last weekend, living with my sister in the Midlands. She meowed all the way up, with a brief interlude when I put Simon and Garfunkel on, which I think might have knocked her out.

It's been noticably different without her here. On the up side, I don't have to hastily shut the front door every time it gets opened to stop the cat getting out, I don't have to put up with being pummelled at 5 in the morning and I can shut the double doors into the conservatory, which makes the house a bit warmer. On the down side, I really miss her and for the first few days I kept thinking I could hear her behind me. She's got a weird little noise that she makes - sort of a cross between a purr and a sneeze, like she's trying to clear her nose, and I'm sure I've heard that a couple of times. Apparently she's been wreaking all sorts of havoc at my sister's end too. When she moved to my house, she didn't eat for three days and took to pooing in corners. I thought it was because she had managed to poison herself by eating lilies, and had forgotten all about it anyway, but apparently she's been doing the same thing at my sister's. I think it's stopped now though. She's also been terrorizing my sister's cat who is a big wuss but understandably pissed off. I hope they manage to put up with each other though because I really don't want to move her again.

I went to Machynlleth last weekend (where CAT is) to find a place to live. I'm going to be lodging with a lovely woman called Fiona and her daughter and two cats, in her house which is about 4 miles from Mach, and 7 1/2 miles away from CAT. I'm hoping I can bike to work, which I manage it will make me super fit in no time. I've been trying to lose a bit of weight too, as it makes biking easier. I don't hold out that much hope of being good with biking - I might start out well but I'm sure I'll lose motivation after a while. I fitted my bike with a computer this afternoon to measure the speed, distance etc - hopefully that will motivate me a bit. Maybe I can reward myself when I reach distance milestones.

Preparation efforts on the car front are storming ahead. After finding a place to live and realising I'd need a car, I booked Sid (my red K-reg mini) in for his MOT last Tuesday, having finally got the engine back together and the passenger window replaced. It took me a while to start him (mostly because in the months he's been in the garage I had forgotten which knob was the choke and was trying to get him going by turning on the heater). I finally got him going and was cheering as I started to pull him out of the garage, at which point he lurched forward twice and then refused to go into gear, and I stopped cheering. I concluded that the clutch had gone, called my dad and burst into tears.

My dad advised me to call a specialist mini garage, so I got out the Yellow Pages and searched for one. I found one in Cottenham which is really close and phoned them up. They told me that they didn't deal with old minis, although they had heard of a bloke who called himself 'Mr. Mini', who lived somewhere nearby. Through my powers of internet geekery I eventually managed to track him down and called him up. He doesn't call himself Mr. Mini any more apparently, because BMW decided there was some sort of copyright conflict of interest, and the small guy always loses out in that kind of wrangle. So now he's Dean's Minis in Soham. He came and picked Sid up at half past three with a special mini towing contraption, and Sid's now being cared for by arguably the most competent and genial mini mechanic in Cambridgeshire. In the meantime my lovely dad came down from the Midlands and cheered me up by taking me out to lunch.

With luck, I should have Sid back by the end of next week, with a new rear subframe, new rear and front brakes, new handbrake and working clutch. Hope so!

Jokes

2008-02-24T15:08:00.000Z

It's nothing to do with jobseeking, but I heard a couple of jokes on the radio today that made me chuckle:

Doctor doctor, can you give me something for wind?
How about this kite?

This Christmas I bought my wife a wooden leg. It's not her main present, just a stocking filler.

Both Tommy Cooper I think :)

Getting prepared

2008-02-22T19:03:00.000Z

I bought a fantastic mac in the sale today, in preparation for rainy Wales. It's bright red. I'd like it to rain just so I can show it off.

I wonder if Shirley from Garbage had just bought a new mac when she wrote 'Only happy when it rains'.

Speed Clean Freak

2008-02-21T15:57:00.000Z

I had the Man from Bush here today to take pictures of my house from various angles so it can be advertised. I also signed a scary looking agreement which basically gave away the right for me to live in my house.

The Man from Bush very considerately set the appointment for half way through the morning, which meant I had a couple of hours to tidy up and get myself in order. I needed the whole 2 hours as well - I had only just switched off the hoover when I spotted him crossing the drive.

My house now looks immaculate (apart from the cupboard under the stairs, which is where I 'tidied' everything into :)). I've been busy selling stuff and giving stuff away too - Alex's car (which was sitting in front of the house and will presumably be featured in the rental ad) is full of about 10 bags of clothes and other stuff for charity shops. I'm trying to work out where I can take it to because all the places on Mill Road haven't got any parking, with the exception of the Sally Army but I'm not taking it there because my friend has forbidden me (apparently they were really snotty when she dropped off some stuff there). If anyone reading this knows of a good place to take stuff, feel free to pipe up.

In other news, today I worked out how much you'd need to heat a metal bar to make it exert 250kN of pressure on its mounting.

Back on the OU study train

2008-02-08T20:20:00.000Z

I got my new pack of OU reading materials the other day, so I'm back studying again. This involves getting up an hour early every morning, and studying before going to work. A simple system, which was surprisingly hard to come by last year. I got in a real mess at the beginning when I was trying to work out how to organise myself, and I fell behind straight away. I was struggling to keep up most of last year, but I'm determined that this year that won't happen.

This year's course is looking harder already. It's level 2 and has some maths in it - luckily not as difficult as the maths course last year as yet which literally had me crying in frustration midway through September when I was trying to figure out how on earth I'd worked out population sequences back in January. It was one of those moments when you see your own work and you're astounded that you clearly understood what you'd been writing about at the time, like when you open your uni notes after having let your brain rot at work for a few years. But instead of there being a gap of years into which the information was lost, there was only a few months. Dang!

I'm really enjoying the course so far, and I'm feeling really driven at the moment. Temping seems to be really sharpening my vision about what I want from life. I mean, at the moment, I'm not really using any of my skills or education. It's fun and challenging and I'm doing things that I never did in my previous job, but it's really making me want to have a path again. It also makes me want to learn enough to get a proper job, a proper career and a proper wage. On my wage at the moment, my aspirations of a double-fronted house with a workshop and a couple of acres are a total pipe dream. Unless it was in Bulgaria maybe.

Job Psychology in a Nutshell

2008-02-03T19:29:00.000Z

I forgot to write a bit about the results of my careers interview. It was actually more of a occupational psychology thing - I did a load of tests about a year ago to create a profile of the sort of jobs I'd be suited to. It took me until June to return the tests - in fact I wasn't going to return them originally because I couldn't afford it and it seemed a bit pointless, but I started getting disillusioned with my OU course and decided to see if I was doing the right thing. I ended up having the interview to discuss the results four days before my 30th birthday, and about a week before I went off for my week of Science Fun in Bath (an OU residential course which was meant to be full of serious scientific experiments - it was, but my group were brilliant and it ended up being pretty much the most fun I've ever had. We spent the whole week laughing like drains). The careers interview is basically what kicked all this off in the first place and was with a lovely guy called David Cook who I would recommend if anyone reading this is feeling lost in Careerland.

The tests were standard ones like MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), FIRO (Fundamental Interpersonal Relationships Orientation), 16PF5 (General Personality indicator) and various Preferences tests. The test results I found most interesting were the MBTI ones - I'm apparently INFJ (Introvert/Intuitive/Feeling/Judging) bordering on INTJ (I/N/Thinking/J). This type apparently works with perseverance, sensitivity and originality. The difference in the INTJ is that they tend to be more concerned with patterns than people - they're working out the solution rather than considering how everyone will feel about it :). I'm happy being both of those. I found FIRO quite interesting as well, because the test answers can not only tell you what relationships you have in general, but break them down into what you give to others, what you expect from them, and what you actually get.

The funniest thing about the tests was that I actually managed to cheat - albeit subconciously. At the time I'd just started my Engineering degree and was so keen to show that I was doing the right thing that I answered the questions in the way that I thought would skew me towards Engineering. Luckily I was found out because there was a sizeable difference in the results of two tests that should have shown the same thing. Busted!

The results of the test were basically that I like innovation, and I like people. That surprised me, because I've always thought of myself as kind of antisocial. I think it was that that made me realise I wasn't going to get what I wanted from Technical Writing, because it's basically a solitary job, and one of its key requirements is that there is no innovation whatsoever - if you're being creative, you're doing it wrong.

David was very impressed with my Bike BagTM, which I presented to him with great enthusiasm when he asked me about it. I think he thinks I should go into business. It did make me wonder, could I make money out of having ideas? Basically, invent things, then sell the design and patent for megabucks? That really appeals to me - I love thinking about how to solve problems, and I get ideas for problem-solving things all the time. Plus it would mean I wouldn't have to do the setting up-building up-keeping going part of creating a product, which I think would probably not interest me that much and I'm probably too lazy to do. If I invented something really special, I could just sell the idea and then sit with my feet up in the Bahamas sipping pina coladas while the money rolled in. Watch this space, someday there will be a Theaker on the market - who knows what it will be, or what you will use it for, but someday it'll be out there!!

Spec free!

2008-01-27T21:54:00.000Z

I had eye laser surgery on Friday. It was a surreal and incredible experience, and now I can see without help for the first time basically in my life, because I've had glasses as long as I can remember.

The oddest thing about it is waking up, because the first thing you do is reach for your glasses, but then you realise you can already see. I panicked the first time because I thought I'd left my contact lenses in.

It's not an undertaking for the faint hearted though...having your eyes operated on is not a very pleasant experience. It's worrying and I found it really painful afterwards (although I think that's unusual - most people just experience mild discomfort, like you've got something in your eye). Now all I've got to do is put drops in every now and again and hopefully it should be normal in a few weeks' time.

Back to work tomorrow, for my third week at the Care Worker Agency. I'm really enjoying it, and actually it's getting better the longer I'm there, because I'm getting to know the clients and workers and I'm even going on a client visit on Tuesday, to a home in Ely, with one of my co-workers. It's kind of ironic that I've ended up in recruitment as my Dad and my sister are too. I can see why they like it - it's really interesting and challenging to be dealing with people constantly. Such a nice change from technical writing, which mostly involved staring at words on a screen.

First six months - summary!

2008-01-13T18:37:00.000Z

A load of people have asked me to let them know how I'm getting on with what I'm doing so I thought the easiest thing would be to start a blog. Plus I'm not studying at the moment so I'm bored. And a bored Helen is not a happy Helen.

A quick summary of what's happened so far...
I left my job last August with a view to applying for a PGCE and becoming a Science teacher, which I really like the idea of if it weren't for the class control issues and a bit of schoolphobia. I phoned a few schools to get some work experience but never quite managed to action the plan, as I decided I really wasn't ready and wanted to try a few other things.
I spent three months having a holiday, studying for and taking an OU exam and sorting out the house.
At the end of October I went to do a course called Ecodesign and Construction at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales, where I met a lovely long-term volunteer called Chris, who told me all about the place and how I could become a long-term volunteer (LTV) myself.
I emailed CAT about becoming an LTV as soon as I got back then signed up with a load of job agencies. I got a post pretty soon as a Receptionist/Admin worker for a Care Workers Agency, which was great. By the time I finished I'd been asked back to CAT to do a trial week with the Engineering department, which I did at the beginning of December. It literally rained from the time I arrived to the time I left, and I had to miss my train on Friday night to avoid getting marooned in Wolverhampton, and travelled home instead the next day. It didn't dishearten me though, and I officially applied to be an LTV when I got back.

I started another temp job as a software tester, which lasted until Christmas, and during the job I got confirmation that I'd been accepted as an LTV with the Engineering department starting on March 10th. So my next step is set, and all that remains is selling or giving away the things I don't need, renting out the house, rehoming my loony cat, finding a place to stay, packing up my handkerchief and heading off to Wales.
Since I got the confirmation I've had a job as a Receptionist, which was great apart from a slightly traumatic episode on the last day (last Friday) involving a stroppy Merc owner and some lost Merc keys. I'd love to be a Receptionist again though, it was great having to be switched on all the time and being really busy.
I start a new job tomorrow - I've had a recall to the Care Workers Agency who apparently think I'm fabulous :) I'm hoping that'll sort me out until I head to Wales.

Over the winter I've also done loads of painting - the spare room, hallway and bathroom, and had a carpet put up the stairs. The house is ready now (to be rented out) but the garden has a bit of sorting to do. I also need to get my decrepit mini back on its alloys, phone a million people to sort out various moving queries, figure out where I'm going to live and then actually do the moving. So I feel like I've got a lot on! It's all good though, lots of new experiences and I feel like I'm really getting somewhere now, and out of the rut.

Just after I finished my exam I made a shopping bag to fit in my bike basket out of some old curtain fabric my Mum gave me. I enjoyed doing it do much that I've started making bags every time I'm bored between jobs. They look a bit homemade but are very sturdy and make excellent gifts! So that's kept me occupied as well.

As well as the new job, I've got a careers interview tomorrow, with the man I saw back in July, just before my 30th, which kind of started this whole thing off. It's just a catch up really, but I'll be interested in what he thinks about how things are developing. Last time he saw me I wanted to be a Teacher and I was going to quit my OU course.

That wasn't actually quick at all :) Now I'm off for a glass of wine and a ponder.